Mountain Waterfall

Minol Araki was born in Dalian in Northern China and learned brush painting as a teen. After he repatriated with his family to Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945, he studied architecture and design and became an industrial designer. He then moved to the United States and established a design company in the 1960s. In 1973, he began a longlasting friendship with the influential Chinese painter Chang Dai-chien (Zhang Daqian; 1899–1983) and was greatly inspired by him.

“My painting,” he said, “is a celebration of nature, a grateful song to all forms of creation expressed through brush painting. By drawing from both East and West, I hope to achieve a perspective which is international, a bridge between cultures.” Chinese and Japanese influences, such as craggy mountain peaks and interplay between light and shadow, are apparent in this landscape painting.